BENGALURU: Showering their affection to get a shot at contesting elections is nothing new for career politicians.
While some candidates try to influence the decision makers with personal visits, others make it a public spectacle.
On Saturday, with the 2018 Karnataka elections around the corner, sitting MLAs from the
BJP and aspirants from the party made their affection for the BJP national president Amit Shah quite evident with large hoardings, buntings and billboards.
Despite most being illegal, from the Kemepgowda International Airport (KIA) to Raj Bhavan welcome boards and advertisements were on every lamp post and over bridge, trying to carve out visibility for themselves ahead of the finalisation of candidates for 2018 polls.
On Saturday a prominent portion of this self promotion was done by A Ravi and his supporters, a two time losing candidate of the BJP from Byatrayanapura.
Having unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in 2008 and 2013, against sitting
Congress minister Krishna Byregowda, Ravi appears to be looking for yet another opportunity to contest from the same constituency.
From hoardings at KIA to T-shirts worn by his supporters, with party state president
B S Yeddyurappa’s portrait and a tag “For a better Byatrayanapura”, Ravi had pulled no stops to project himself as a popular leader and impress upon Shah that he is a worthy candidate.
Yet another aspiring candidate is a low key leader and former corporator N R Shridhar Reddy and his supporters, who appears to be eyeing a ticket from the
Shanthinagar
assembly constituency. The constituency is being held by Congress strongman N A Haris and does not have a strong BJP presence.
While these may be the case of an aspiring candidate, supporters of sitting MLAs like S R Vishwanath (Yelahanka)and Y A Narayanswamy (Hebbal) also had huge hoardings welcoming Shah.
The going rates for advertising in prime locations like Mehkri circle, which saw a huge billboard welcoming Shah was Rs 150 per sq meter.
While Vishwanath is fighting a tough battle to retain his constituency, with a series of personal setbacks and cases lodged against him, Narayanswamy continues to have an “outsider” tag despite winning the by-poll from Hebbal.
This apart, sitting MLAs like S Raghu (C V Raman Nagar), Muniraju (
Dasarahalli
) and former MLAs like Bacchegowda brought in party workers from their respective constituencies for a public rally in large number of buses as a show of personal strength.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.Journalist by profession, 15 years in the field with Politics and...
Read MoreJournalist by profession, 15 years in the field with Politics and Policy as forte. He is an Assistant Editor with Bengaluru bureau and Karnataka as his jurisdiction. Has a Masters degree in Ancient History and Archaeology from Mysore University along with a PGDJ from the Asian College of Journalism.
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